Posty!

[botias]

• The combination pill has been stealing my mojo!? I feel betrayed. And it does it two different ways: 1) The constant high levels of progesterone and estrogen inhibit your ovaries from producing testosterone and 2) your liver responds to the sudden hit of hormones from outta nowhere by putting out some molecule that binds to sex hormones and renders them inert. This mops up hormones not only from the pill, but also those put out by your body, including testosterone. The levels of this mopping molecule remain somewhat elevated at least a year after the person has stopped taking the pill. No wonder I have extra fun during my period/when pregnant/when on the mini pill. Something will have to be done!


• Today I drove down to an 'estate sale' of a junior high that is closing in a very tiny town. Miranda, CA, population: 350. Saw emus which were very cool. I would love one in my back yard except for that I probably wouldn't. Library books were 10 for a dollar, could not resist one entitled: Miss Pickerell and the Geiger Counter Copyright 1959. Mmmmm. I love the smell of old books.


• I sold some stuff on Craig's List and used the proceeds to buy books. This was very exciting. New books are a luxury to me. I bought: The Manual: A True Bad Boy Explains How Men Think, Date, and Mate, The Female Brain, The Straight Girl's Guide to Sleeping with Chicks, It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy, The Naughty Bits: The Steamiest and Most Scandalous Sex Scenes from the World's Great Books. A sez a less confident man would be frightened by my selection. I have read the first two and the fourth so far. I highly recommend the first two and think they make excellent companion books. Right now I am reading Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror I highly recommend it to anyone who breathes or who is considering invading Afghanistan.


• According to The Female Brain, babies are like heroin. The scent from the top of their fuzzy little heads does all sorts of crazy to the susceptible. I can believe this. Must fight it. It doesn't help that my job keeps me in constant contact with "users".


• September was tough, but now it is over. The viral wave initiated by school starting has ebbed, the politicians have saved the economy, and the polls are showing that most people have begun to see sense over Sarah Palin. I can breathe a big sigh of relief.

Comments

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

Miss Pickerell and the Geiger Counter

I read that book! When I was in high school, which was conveniently located across the street from one of the public library branches, I'd go to the library at lunchtime daily (and after school, before I walked home) and I read so many books. That was one of them. I remember really enjoying it, though I couldn't tell you anything about it now ... I wonder if I can find a used copy online?

[...] babies are like heroin. The scent from the top of their fuzzy little heads does all sorts of crazy to the susceptible.

Heh. Not me. Doesn't work in the least. Though I do love my nieces and nephews, I'm completely lacking in that particular susceptibility, and so are quite a few of my female friends!

[botias.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Now I am looking forward to reading it. :) I was wondering how many of those books were on someone's nostalgic wish list. :)

Well, I'm sure you could hang out with Meth heads and not be tempted, too. :) I used to be that way. According to the The Female Brain, a woman's brain dramatically rewires itself during and after birth in response to the huge surges of oxytocin. O.O How wild is that? In my experience this is the case. It changed everything from my sense of smell to my emotional response to violent movies. Nursing and cuddling an infant can give a mother a hit that's almost as intense as sex in its way. It is literally chemically addictive.

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

[...] a woman's brain dramatically rewires itself during and after birth in response to the huge surges of oxytocin.

I can believe it! Were those changes (smell, emotional response) permanent? There's a lot of talk at a perfume forum I visit about how during one's period or during pregnancy, fragrances can smell completely different than usual. But I wondered what effects linger after pregnancy/nursing is over.

I've never had a very high tolerance for the crime shows (Law & Order & their ilk) but when my nieces & nephews were babies/toddlers, I absolutely couldn't stand these shows - they'd create an awful lingering anxiety worrying that the kids would be snatched by vile predators. I'd brood about it, and cry over the fact that things like this happen at all. It felt like a hormonal reaction!

[botias.livejournal.com]

Some of the changes probably are permanent to a degree. My mom still has her bionic nose. I am starting to lose my photographic memory for the location of things as my youngest gets farther from weaning and less 'in arms', perhaps my ability to remember words and names will begin to come back. :P The full-on 'Mom brain' requires physical contact with one's children in order to be maintained and wanes gradually throughout their childhood and teen years, according to the book.

The weirdest thing that happened to me had to do with pets. I saw my two cats as little people, my 'babies'. I found their faces to be very human and expressive. The first time I saw one after I gave birth I was in for a shock. It just looked like an animal to me. It's face looked very alien and not expressive at all. It's strange how much of ourselves and what is important to us, how quickly we anger, can all be turned on and off by hormone levels. :/

What's really interesting are the personality changes associated with menopause and peri-menopause. Women apparently lose the calming and conciliatory effects of estrogen. Relationship scenarios that were once adequate no long are. The cliche is men leaving their wives for younger models at middle age, but in fact 65% of such divorces are initiated by the wives.

But yes, I'm sure you can get hormonal reactions like that from hanging out with children, probably especially related ones. :)

[mere-ubu.livejournal.com]

The weirdest thing that happened to me had to do with pets. I saw my two cats as little people, my 'babies'.

Oh, that totally happened to me, too! I felt shocked and betrayed at how they immediately just became cats again. Now that I'm no longer being hit with the oxytocin mallet like I was when Z. was still nursing, the current set of cats have become increasingly baby-like to me again. Weirdness.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Miss Pickerell and the Geiger Counter Copyright 1959. Mmmmm. I love the smell of old books.


People still read Miss Pickerell .

[botias.livejournal.com]

Oh? It is a series/still in print?

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

It was a series but it's no longer in print. However, many Libraries still carry copies.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

In fact, here's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_MacGregor) the list.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Very cool! We'll see if they become a favorite.

[bendy1.livejournal.com]

The Naughty Bits: The Steamiest and Most Scandalous Sex Scenes from the World's Great Books

You know what, I bet none of them are as hot as a PG13 Clex fic.

My brain is broken for sex in books.

[botias.livejournal.com]

You're harshing my mellow!

You are no doubt correct. I guess old habits die hard. Nevertheless, I have every hope it will still be interesting. And I do have kids, maybe they will like it.

[bendy1.livejournal.com]

It's all so tame. Lady Chatterley's Lover, Fanny Hill... even the Marquis de Sade is like... so? Lex does that EVERY WEEKEND in a club in Metropolis.

[botias.livejournal.com]

LOL! 'Tis true. Sexually, de Sade is tame, though I've only read The Misfortunes of Virtue and not any of his porn, but his ideas are still annoying after all these years.

Some of the Victorian porn still compares. I remember one with bondage, incestuous threesomes, deflowering, rape, kiddy sex, anal, homosexuality and orgies. Pick any four for a given scene.

[mere-ubu.livejournal.com]

The combination pill sucks. I was on it for years and decided that what really makes it such an effective form of birth control is that it makes sex seem like a much less interesting prospect. Meh. *whispers* Vasectomies, however? Rawk the mostest. I'm just sayin.

A sez a less confident man would be frightened by my selection.
Bwahahaa! No doubt. Congrats on your haul of new and intimidating reading material.

Clean baby smell is the best smell in the whole world. I used to sniff Z's head so much when she was an infant that I began to wonder if it was like huffing. I'm glad to receive some confirmation.

[botias.livejournal.com]

I went on the combination pill very early on. I was so happy with the not-getting-pregnant and the mild periods that I didn't even notice that my sex hormones might have gone from raging to mostly bearable. Now, at 35 and after an 8-year hiatus... I'm noticing a difference. *nods* Yes, A and I are discussing the 'operation'.

I didn't realize it when I ordered, but break-up books? How-tos on getting play with bad boys and with women? It looks bad, I'll admit. I'm just fascinated by the mating game though. And I thought He's Just Not That Into You was hilarious, so I bought his 'break-up' book. Not as funny. Oh well.

That smell is the best! I used to wear my babies and compulsively sniff the top of their heads. It was like taping the tube of glue to your chin, basically.